Nuclear Fuel

India's current engagement with the US in dismantling the nuclear apartheid is hailed by the UPA government and the foreign policy establishment as a sign of India's growing economic strength as well as recognition of the Vashisthtas of nuclear establishment, viz., the nuclear powers of the fact that India too has arrived. There are others, particularly the Left, which sees this as a needless kow-towing to the unipolar super power US, sacrificing national sovereignty and the lofty Nehruvian ideals...

ISLAMABAD: A landmark deal on Iran's nuclear programme has breathed new life into plans for a gas pipeline through Pakistan -- and sparked a geopolitical tussle, with Russia looking to expand its influence, observers say. With sanctions on Iran likely to ease and peace talks between the Taliban and Afghan government getting under way, wrangling is intensifying over the proposed pipelines, which would link Central Asia to the Middle East. Islamabad last week hailed the...

The nuclear fuel cycle involves extraction and processing of uranium ore to be used in a reactor for generation of electricity and disposal of spent fuel. What are the stages in preparation of nuclear fuel? Preparation of nuclear fuel includes mining and crushing of ore, conversion, enrichment and fuel fabrication. These steps are together called the 'front end' of the nuclear fuel cycle.Uranium ore, like any other mineral ore, is found underground.

NEW DELHI: In a major milestone for the nuclear industry, India has registered a record production of over 1,252 MT of uranium bundles, manufacturing close to double the annual fuel requirement of atomic reactors in the country. The production has also exceeded country's annual fuel requirement of 650 MT for the Pressurised Heavy Water Reactors (PHWRs), which means the country has surplus nuclear fuel, for at least a few months. The Hyderabad-based Nuclear Fuel Complex ,...

NEW DELHI: After a record production this year, India is working on creating a 'strategic uranium reserve' to ensure its atomic power reactors do not face shortage of the crucial nuclear fuel. "The reserve pool could be anywhere between 5000 MT to 15,000 MT which can last for 5-10 years," said a senior government official. A proposal for stocking 5000 MT of uranium has been sent to the Cabinet for approval but the cap is likely to increase in the coming years. Over the past one year,...

VIENNA: The United States and other nations negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran are ready to offer high-tech reactors and other state-of-the-art equipment to Tehran if it agrees to crimp programs that can make atomic arms, according to a confidential document obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. The draft document, one of several technical appendices meant to accompany the main text of any deal, has dozens of bracketed text where disagreements...

NEW YORK: Iran needs the ability to produce nuclear fuel because it cannot rely on other nations to supply enriched uranium to the Islamic regime's planned reactors, the Iranian president said Thursday. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaking to a gathering of selected journalists also contended that Washington does not have the will to launch a military strike on Iran over its nuclear ambitions, which Tehran insists is for peaceful energy production but the West fears is a clandestine...

NEW DELHI: India is undertaking exploration of rare earth element (REE) monazite, an essential source of nuclear fuel, and has already set up a plant in Odisha for processing the mineral, Parliament was informed today. Monazite is an atomic mineral and contains thorium an essential nuclear fuel. Minister of state for Steel and Mines Vishnu Deo Sai in a written reply to Lok Sabha said, "Exploration and exploitation of rare earth elements are...

MOSCOW: INDIA and Russia have signed a $400m deal for the supply of nuclear fuel for the Kudankulam atomic power plant under construction in Tamil Nadu. The nuclear fuel deal for the supply of the first batch of nuclear fuel rods was signed in Moscow on Wednesday by the chairman of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India VK Chaturvedi and the president of Russian fuel company TVEL, Alexander Nyago. Under the inter-governmental agreements of 1988 and 1998 on the building of two...

MOSCOW: Russia's TVEL, a subsidiary of state-controlled nuclear power company Atomenergoprom, has delivered its first shipment of nuclear fuel for Indian heavy-water reactors, the company said on Friday. "Thirty metric tonnes of pellets were delivered to the nuclear fuel complex in Hyderabad (in India) for further conversion into fuel for the Rajasthan nuclear power plant," the company said. In line with a $700 million contract signed Feb 11 with New Delhi...

KOLKATA: Having secured the NSG waiver, India is likely to sign bilateral agreements with France for supply of nuclear fuel during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Paris next week and a similar deal with Russia later this year, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Monday. Singh, who left today on a 10-day trip to the US and France, is expected to firm up an agreement on civil nuclear energy cooperation after summit talks with...

NEW DELHI: In a significant development that could have positive bearing on proposed Indo-Japan civil nuclear deal, Tokyo is likely to change its policy to allow reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel from Japanese-made reactors. In what could be a major shift in Japan's nuclear non-proliferation strategy, Tokyo for the first time has approved reprocessing of nuclear fuel by a country using Japanese-made reactors, official sources said from...

NEW DELHI: The recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to France and Canada has facilitated forward movement in civil nuclear cooperation with these countries and opened up new avenues for mutually beneficial cooperation in peaceful use of nuclear energy, Government today said. "The visit of the Prime Minister has facilitated forward movement in the civil nuclear cooperation agreement with these countries and opened up...

NEW DELHI: India stands at the 13th place world-wide in generating electricity from nuclear source and expects to increase the installed nuclear power capacity from 5,780 MW to 10,080 MW by 2019, government today said. According to the data published in 2014 by Power Reactor Information System of International Atomic Energy Agency , "India ranked 13th position in terms of generation. However, it stood at 7th position in terms of number of reactors in operation...

NEW DELHI: India is undertaking exploration of rare earth element (REE) monazite, an essential source of nuclear fuel, and has already set up a plant in Odisha for processing the mineral, Parliament was informed today. Monazite is an atomic mineral and contains thorium an essential nuclear fuel. Minister of state for Steel and Mines Vishnu Deo Sai in a written reply to Lok Sabha said, "Exploration and exploitation of rare earth elements are being...

KOLKATA: India has received about 3,968 tonnes of nuclear fuel to run power plants after signing agreements with foreign suppliers, the government said. As part of the civil nuclear cooperation, India had entered into inter-governmental agreements with France, the US, Russia, Namibia, the European Union , Canada , Argentina, Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea, Vietnam and Sri Lanka, some of which are uranium producers and...

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today castigated developed nations which "lecture" India but deny it nuclear fuel for clean energy and reaffirmed the country's commitment to fight against climate change. "See the irony. The world gives lecture on climate but if we tell them that we want to move forward in nuclear energy as it is a good path for environment protection and when we ask them to provide necessary fuel for nuclear energy, they refuse," he said. Modi...

PERTH: Australia is willing to consider joining the consensus with Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) and the International Atomic Energy Association (IAEA) to provide India uranium for its power plants if the latter ratified the 123 agreement with the US. The move is clearly a softening of position from the earlier stated stand where Australia has been reluctant to open uranium trading with countries that have not signed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). "The Labour Party...

OTTAWA: Canadians see India as a fast-growing economy and believe the country's growth is an "important opportunity" for Canada, but most of them can't identify who Narendra Modi is, according to a new poll. The vast majority of Canadians are unable to identify Prime Minister Modi and also do not know that Islam is the second-largest religion in India after Hinduism, the poll by Angus Reid Institute said. Only 22 per cent of respondents could identify Modi...

TORONTO: Canada's biggest uranium producer Cameco is in advanced talks with India on a deal to supply it fuel for nuclear power plants and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit next week is likely to provide impetus to clinch the agreement, a media report said today. "There is a fairly late-stage negotiation on and I think it's likely to conclude successfully. I just don't know whether it's going to conclude by next week," Globe and Mail newspaper quoted a source...